|
on Intellectual Property Rights |
| By: | Boot, Arnoud; Vladimirov, Vladimir |
| Abstract: | Patent applications often reveal proprietary information to competitors, but does such disclosure harm firms or also benefit them? We develop and empirically support a theory showing that when firms patent enhancements to incumbent, non-disruptive technologies, they can cooperate more easily on these technologies, increasing their profitability. The downside of cooperating on non-disruptive technologies is that the investment in and commitment to disruptive technologies decline. To improve their commitment to disruptive technologies, some firms rely more on trade secrecy. We provide empirical support for these predictions. We document that after a patent reform that made information about patent applications widely accessible, firms cooperate more and charge higher markups. Furthermore, the nature of patented innovation has changed, with the proportion of non-disruptive patents increasing substantially. Finally, while some firms start patenting more, others patent less and rely more on trade secrecy, with the response depending on the attractiveness of firms' innovation prospects. |
| JEL: | M40 G31 G38 L41 O31 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20702 |
| By: | Malek, Jan; Seldeslachts, Jo; Veugelers, Reinhilde |
| Abstract: | This paper provides empirical evidence on which M&A deals spur innovation, and which stifle it. To do so, we consider not only the product market position of the acquiring firm, but also the position of both target and acquirer in the technology space. Focusing on the antidiabetic drugs market, our dataset tracks the lifecycle and patenting of all individual antidiabetic projects in development between 1997 and 2017. We show that most terminations of acquired projects occur while the projects are still far from product market entry. Nevertheless, a number of these early-stage acquisitions have a positive impact on innovation. These cases arise when incumbents acquire projects close to their own projects in product markets, but only if these projects are also close in technology markets. Those deals are associated with increased subsequent patenting, which is consistent with the exploitation of technological synergies. Our results point to the crucial role of combining both product market and technology market positions in assessing the innovation effects of pharmaceutical M&As. |
| Keywords: | Patents |
| JEL: | L41 L65 O31 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20468 |
| By: | Coelli, Federica |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of resolving trade policy uncertainty on investment in innovation in China during 1990-2007. It exploits exogenous and heterogeneous exposure to tariff uncertainty resolution arising from a major change in US trade policy, which eliminated the possibility of tariff increases on Chinese imported goods, and detailed data on innovation from all sectors and countries in a triple difference-in-differences. Eliminating tariff uncertainty has an economically and statistically significant effect on innovation, and this effect represents actual innovation, rather than just more patent filings. Next, the paper studies the mechanisms that led to this positive innovation response and shows i. that the timing is heterogeneous: high-quality and high opportunity cost innovations respond more slowly and gradually, while lower-quality innovations react quickly; ii. that the increase in innovation reflects a response on three margins: the introduction of patents in new technologies, patents with increased technological scope, and patents in a firm’s pre-period technology portfolio; iii. that relatively more exposed sectors exhibit a larger increase in the number of firms patenting for the first time; iv. that the increase in innovation is at least in part driven by exports to the US. |
| Keywords: | Trade policy; China |
| JEL: | D72 F13 F14 O19 O24 O33 P33 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20377 |
| By: | Liu, Xueyue; Liu, Yu; Makarin, Alexey; Wen, Jaya |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how Chinese firms responded to the 2007 U.S. "China Military Catch-All Rule, '' which restricted exports of dual-use products with military applications. By comparing sanctioned goods to those that were just excluded from the policy, we estimate firm-level effects on imports, R&D, and patenting. Treated firms sharply reduced imports of controlled products and increased innovation activity: R&D spending rose by 49.1%, patenting by 41.3%, and the number of active inventors by 30.4%. Patenting in related technologies increased by 65.1% and patents on other topics increased by 41.6%, indicating a broad innovation response rather than one narrowly focused on replacing restricted inputs. We also examine domestic suppliers of controlled goods and find that their innovation increased, but was concentrated in patent applications related to the restricted products, which more than quadrupled. Taken together, these results suggest that a key unintended consequence of export controls is their potential to accelerate innovation in the sanctioned economy. |
| Keywords: | Export controls; Sanctions; Innovation; China; Geoeconomics |
| JEL: | F13 F14 D22 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20690 |
| By: | Bergeaud, Antonin; Chaniot, Jean-Baptiste; Malgouyres, Clément |
| Abstract: | We use quasi-random local variation in the number of young men who died as a result of World War I to estimate the impact of this demographic shock on innovation and structural change in France. Our analysis shows that excess mortality led to an increase in patenting activity in counties with high pre-war education levels, driven predominantly by innovations in labor-saving technologies. Our estimates imply that an additional 6, 000 patents were filed in the 15 years following the war, amounting roughly to the average annual number of patents filed pre-war. We find a positive association between war-related mortality and wage growth as well as with the adoption of machines in the agricultural sector, providing additional evidence that incentives to escape labor scarcity are driving the innovation response to mortality. |
| Keywords: | Patents; Demographics; Directed technical change |
| JEL: | O33 J24 O15 J11 N34 N14 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20492 |
| By: | Gazzani, Andrea; Martinez, Joseba; Natoli, Filippo; Surico, Paolo |
| Abstract: | We study the macroeconomic effects of government-funded and privately funded innovation on postwar U.S. productivity and economic growth. Using newly digitized data that allow us to distinguish innovations by funding source and ownership, we document systematic differences in how public and private innovation translate into aggregate outcomes. Government-funded but privately owned patents—though accounting for only about 2% of total patenting—explain roughly 20% of medium-term fluctuations in total factor productivity and GDP growth and are associated with strong spillovers to business-sector R&D and investment. Privately funded patents also contribute to aggregate fluctuations, but with smaller effects, while publicly owned patents display muted average impacts despite being disproportionately represented among highly disruptive innovations, particularly in health and biotechnology. Across federal agencies, innovations funded by the NIH and NSF exhibit the strongest links to subsequent productivity growth, and research institutes and universities outperform for-profit firms in converting public funding into aggregate gains. Taken together, our results highlight how the institutional design of public support for innovation shapes medium-term productivity dynamics and plays a central role in sustaining U.S. economic growth. |
| JEL: | E32 E22 O41 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20788 |